It is common for businesses and homeowners to have a security system for detecting alarm conditions (such as intrusion, fire, carbon monoxide, flooding, etc.) at their premises and reporting these to a monitoring station and/or a server or other system that instead notifies the user for self-monitoring through their phone, PDA, etc., or for remotely interacting with and controlling lifestyle systems (such as lighting, thermostats, energy management devices, etc.). Typically, these security panels communicate with a monitoring station or other remote location over a conventional phone line, DSL or cable, or a radio that communicates with a cellular or other wireless network. The radios may operate as either a primary or a back-up communication. Radios used for security systems can be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,542,721 and International PCT Application No. WO2011CA00487.
In order to simplify and reduce the time of installation of such systems, some manufacturers have introduced All-in-One (“AIO”) panels that combine a keypad, alarm panel and siren, or some combination thereof, into self-contained units that communicate wirelessly with sensors and other devices. In order to communicate with a monitoring station or other remote location, the AIO panels must also be wired to the phone line/cable, or a communication radio. In order to further simplify the installation process, some manufacturers are introducing AIO panels with built-in radio modules.
Radio communicators are subject to obsolesce as cellular carriers (such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc.) move to next generation technologies and optimize their networks in a manner that no longer support earlier technologies. For example, in 2008 the FCC permitted cellular network carriers to sunset their support of analog cellular technologies on their networks in favor of supporting only digital devices. This was not an issue for most users of the cellular network who update their smart phones and other mobile devices frequently and who had virtually all replaced their analog cell phones with digital cell phones long before the sunset date.
But for security monitoring customers with analog radios installed in their premises, the radios had to be replaced or they would no longer be able to communicate with monitoring centers. The industry estimates that more than 400,000 analog radios had to be replaced by trained technicians who had to schedule appointments and roll trucks to the premises in order to perform the replacements. Because the installed base of current digital radios for security monitoring is even higher and continues to grow, and will grow at a much faster pace as radios are incorporated into AIO panels, the cost and logistical infeasibility of replacing all of those radios when they become obsolete would be staggering.
It would therefore be desirable to have an additional wireless communication device that could be sent to a customer, which would allow the customer to upgrade the communication capability of the security panel by self-enrolling the device with the existing premises security panel as a replacement for the obsolete radio, without the need to have their equipment modified or replaced by a service technician.